Fears of terrorism at Sochi Russian Olympics soar

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin rarely gives interviews to foreignmedia, but over the weekend several Western media services obtainedassure everyone that the Olympics would be safe, and to encouragepeople to come to Sochi for the games that begin on February 6, butevents seem to be speeding past his PR attempts.

Russian police have been handing out fliers to hotels, warning them ofa “Black Widow” terror suspect who may be planning terrorist attacksduring the Sochi Olympics. The name “Black Widow” originally wasapplied to women who were avenging the deaths of their husbands duringthe 1990s Chechnya wars, but in recent years the term has referred toany of the increasing numbers of female suicide bombers. Terroristgroups prefer female suicide bombers because security officials oftenare prohibited from searching females, making the females moresuccessful at being violent.

Russian security services may be looking for as many as four “BlackWidows,” including Ruzanna Ibragimova, the 22-year-old woman in theflyer. She uses the nickname Salima and she’s the widow of an Islamicmilitant killed by Russian security sources last year. She isdescribed as being affiliated with the Caucasus Emirate, the terrorgroup led by Doku Umarov that has threatened attacks against theWinter Games in Sochi.

In other news, jihadists claiming to be responsible for the twosuicide bombings in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) last month posteda video over the weekend threatening further suicide attacks duringthe Olympics. In a message directed at Putin, the jihadists said:

“That which we will do, that which we have done, isonly a little example, a little step. We’ll have a surprisepackage for you. And those tourists that will come to you, forthem, too, we have a surprise.

All of these events are raising fears and anxiety over terroristattacks, especially among the 15,000 American who will be attendingthe Sochi games.

The two jihadists in the video claimed that they were from a terroristorganization in Iraq. If this turns out to be true, then it will bekarmic justice for Putin, whose support for genocidal Syrian presidentBashar al-Assad has encouraged Russian jihadists to go to theSyria-Iraq region for training and experience. AP and NBC News

U.S. military puts warships into Black Sea in case of Sochi terrorism

The U.S. military will move two warships into the Black Sea under acontingency plan to react to terrorism at the Sochi Olympics. Ifordered to do so, they will launch helicopters to help evacuateAmerican officials and athletes, and they will provide support toRussian security forces if requested by Russia to do so. In additionto the warships, C-17 transport aircraft would be on standby inGermany, and could reach the region in about two hours. CNN

New Nato headquarters building in big financial trouble

New Nato headquarters under construction in Brussels (Spiegel)

Nato is building a new headquarters building, a project that wasdecided at the Nato summit of government leaders in April 1999 inWashington. The budget was 1.05 billion euros, but now the consortiumof firms building it is at risk of insolvency, and is requesting anadditional 245 million euros. The building was supposed to becompleted by September, but now it’s going to be delayed 9-1/2 months.Nato’s Deputies Committee has approved an immediate 20 million eurosto prevent an immediate construction halt, but there’s hostility toproviding more money. Those who favor providing the money needed tocomplete construction give the following reasons:

High costs that would result from a halt to construction given the possible weather damage to the unfinished building, parts of which hadn’t been fitted with windows yet.

The disastrous effect on the image of the alliance if construction were to stop and if Nato appeared to be incapable of punctually completing a construction project that was decided at the NATO summit of government leaders in April 1999 in Washington.

The construction financial crisis is an embarrassment for outgoingNATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, under whose management the crisisoccurred. Spiegel